The present invention relates to a tank truck including a horizontal support platform secured on the tank for supporting a suction hose, through which a material is sucked down into the tank, and a boom rotatable about a vertical axis and supporting a free end of the suction hose.
A tank truck of the above-described truck is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,591. In the tank truck, a reel for receiving a suction hose and rotatable about a vertical axis is secured on the tank. A live ring is provided on the top side of the tank in a spaced relationship to the reel. The live ring likewise rotates about a vertical axis. A lever arm, serving as a boom for the suction hose, is provided on the live ring. Because the distance between the reel and the boom or the live ring, in view of constructional and installational consideration, is relatively small, the boom can be pivoted only along a very small circumference. Therefore, the hose drum located between the reel and the boom is not strongly buckled.
Another tank truck of the above-described type instead of a reel, has a horizontal support platform for the hose, which is secured on the top side of the tank. This platform extends along the entire length of the vehicle and is fixedly secured thereto. On the rear small side of the rectangular support platform, in a corner region, a reeling device for the hose is secured. In the region of the other corner of the support platform, a hose lead-in is provided. A hose boom, rotatable about a vertical axis and having, as a rule, a variable length is provided on the tank in a spaced relationship to the support platform. In this type of tank trucks, the boom likewise pivots about a very limited circumference, and a hose drum, which is located between the reeling device and the boom, bulges too much. This type of a tank truck is described in the publication of a German firm "Muller-Umwelftechnik GmbH" (April 1989) and in the publication of a German firm "Faun-Eurotec-Vertrielsgesellshaft" (August, 1991) which manufactures waste dispose equipment.
An object of the present invention is tank truck of the above-described type, in which the boom can practically rotate about an unlimited angle, despite the presence of a hose drum between the lead-in and the boom.